Take a leap on Leap Day: Half off Stratosphere's SkyJump in Las Vegas

By Jay Jones

Feb 29, 2016 | 6:05 AM

A jumper free-falls toward the ground during a leap off the side of the Stratosphere along the Las Vegas Strip. The SkyJump attraction willoffer discount rides onLeap Day, Feb. 29. (Stratosphere Casino, Hotel & Tower)

Adrenaline junkies, take heart: What better way to celebrate Leap Day than by leaping off the side of the Stratosphere Casino, Hotel and Tower, the most iconic building along the Las Vegas Strip?

And to mark the once-every-four-years occasion, thrill-seekers can enjoy the plunge for half-price in honor of the extra day.

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Participants can take the leap on SkyJump at the Stratosphere day or night. (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

The leap alone is normally priced at $120. For $150, guests also get a USB stick loaded with photos as well as video taken from a wrist-mounted camera.

The attraction is open from 10 a.m. Monday to 1 a.m. Tuesday.

The half-price Leap Day offer must be purchased and redeemed on Monday.

The SkyJump ride takes only 17 seconds but provides a huge adrenaline rush. Guests are provided with training and fitted with special suits before walking to the edge of a platform near the top of the soaring tower of the Stratosphere.

The 855-foot plummet is called a "controlled drop."

At first, people free-fall toward the Las Vegas Strip. But within seconds, a "descender machine" kicks in, slowing the fall and bringing jumpers to a safe landing on a padded surface.

"There's nothing to be scared of," New Yorker Todd Cameron said after he took the plunge a few years ago. "If you live your life, you shouldn't be afraid of death."